Guns Loom Large in Childhood Death Statistics

Guns Loom Large in Childhood Death Statistics

You can’t go more than a couple of months without seeing another news headline about a school shooting, or a shooting incident involving a child. While these stories are shocking, school shootings account for only a small number of the gun-related injuries and fatalities that children suffer every year as a result of gunshots. In […]

You can’t go more than a couple of months without seeing another news headline about a school shooting, or a shooting incident involving a child. While these stories are shocking, school shootings account for only a small number of the gun-related injuries and fatalities that children suffer every year as a result of gunshots. In fact, most gun injuries happen in the home and at the hands of other children who had no intention of hurting anybody.Children and Gun DeathsAccording to a recent study presented to a conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics, over 500 children die every year from gunshot wounds. That number represents a 60 percent increase in a single decade. Handguns, by far, account for the most injuries and deaths. Over 80 percent of all children who are injured by firearms suffer injuries inflicted by handguns.The study looked at data compiled between 1997 and 2009. In 1997, 4,270 children under the age of 20 suffered a gunshot injury. By 2009, that number increase to 7,730, a jump of about 55 percent. Further, 317 children died of gunshot injuries in 1997, while 503 died of such injuries in 2009.Disproportionate DangerOther studies have shown that gunshots pose a disproportionately high fatality risk to children. Even though gunshot wounds account for only 1% of the total number of injuries children suffer each year, they account for 21% of deaths that result from childhood injury.When a child is shot, that child has a 32% chance of requiring major surgery. …